Kingdoms of Alcensen

Chapter 11

Ten years ago, Castle of Palette northern parts, Crown prince Cole's chambers

Young crown prince Cole was pale and felt like his inside were burning as he coughed and coughed. He just wanted to feel better, feel like himself and go out to play with his friends again. He then angirly hit his pillows out of frustration. He was locked inside his chambers, without his guards or any of his family members visiting since his sickness was contagious. The only two people he constantly saw was maximilian and Allan. Allan was his right hand, and felt a duty to stay by his side altough his father hadn't liked it and maximilian was well- just clingy and in the end he also got the red fever and was forced to stay with the Crown prince. They had met in an interesting way. His father Alaric Campbell was transferred to the castle of Palette to work on a new economy plan. Since the norrian kingdom and the vastian kingdom had a bit fo a history, their newfounded partenrship in trade was very important to build bridges. Maximilian, was the son of Campbell but had been living his life in the norrian kingdom. Since he was favored by King August of the norrian Kingdom so much, his upbringing had practically been that of a prince. That's why the first time they met, maximilian refused to pledge alliance to Cole by bowing.

"Ney, why in the whole world am i supposed to pledge alliance to this brew!" he had exclaimed and then cussed at Cole with what he figured were norrian slang words. His father had been deeply embarassed, and the next day Maximilian couldn't walk without his butt aching. Cole hadn't taken any offense, he was rather relieved to have an equal, a friend. Altough he hadn't liked his attitude he decided to be big-hearted and offered him to play lagun the following day.

"Hey, red, want to play lagun?" Cole asked and Maximilian just stared at him with suspicion before he flushed and said." What's lagun?". Ever since that day, Maximilian was stuck with Cole and Allan. Altough Allan and he always fought Cole knew that they were closer to each other than one would think. Allan had one time even lied to Maximilian's father to save hus friends butt. Maximilian had let the horses loose, and Allan knew that it had been an accident so he lied, telling Alaric Campbell that he had done it instead. Allan hated to lie and Cole knew then, that he also viewed their redheaded, brazen friend as nothing less than a brother. They even swore a bloodpack, which was disgusting yet only proved their closeness.

As Cole kept coughing horribly, Maximilian had woken up from his slumber and hurriedly handed the crown prince a drink."Cole, you need to drink this to get better." He told him as he helped his sick friend to drink. Cole refused the drink and glared at him.

"sshhh with ya! Max you know you can't address me as cole, what if your father comes back and hears you?" Cole scolded him.

"He won't comeback, Dr.Lukewarm told me earlier when he came to give you these, that father will come later." He said and pointed towards the brick with the two cups, that Cole had refused to drink. "The red one is for you, and the blue one for me." Dr.lukewarm had been very strict with that fact and Maximilian figured that the red cup was a lot stronger medication than the other. Maximilian had also been sick, but not as sick as Cole was apparently.

"Plus, nobody is here now, or are you saying that I can't call you by your name even in private?" He added with a slight temper. Cole only sighed and shook his head." No, ofcourse not, It's just that i'm worried, you remember what happened the last time.."

Max's expression changed as he reluctantly reminisced. His Father had beat him severely with ten flogging three days ago for calling the crown prince by his first name. But Max couldn't help it, he always felt like the title separated him from his friend and made it all awkward. Cole agreed but when he saw Max's scars he promised himself to prevent his friend from getting caught and became strict with adressing him properly. He hated the fact that his title could hurt someone just because they didn't address him properly, but he also couldn't see Maximilian going through another flogging.